Warning: This is a sad chappy. Very sad. If this is going to bother you a lot, I suggest you skip it and wait for the next one, or even the one after that.
Aidenn was afraid. He was doubly afraid, he could feel his Twin's fear alongside his, filling him, twined with his. He couldn't ghost... The Rebels were going to kill him, just because he was a program. Not even a part of the system. Oh Fuck, why? Why? That was all he could think as the Rebel grabbed his dreads, his precious, beautiful hair, grabbed and pulled. He could actually feel, really feel, not washed-out Matrix feeling, the cold, death cold of the knife at his throat, watched his Twin and Antoine suffer the same. 'The knife', his dead pseudo-brain thought, 'his smile... Like the knife. Antoine. Antoine. Antoine has our knives...' Someone screamed. Several someones... One was either him or his Twin, he no longer knew. The other might have been Antoine. It no longer mattered. They were going to die, really die.
*ding* One last thought... He felt the knife move... 'Aidenn... I-I'm so sorry.' Oh damn, fuck... He had said 'I'. He had given up... It was over. 'I'm sorry for everything...' Aidenn knew what he meant, of course. How could he not? 'Yeah, us too.' He would not, could not give up. Not ever. Not even when he felt his blood pour, so warm, so gentle, over his throat, down his jacket. As he fell, his blood staining the carpet, mingling with his other's. And- "ANTOINE!" He yelled, called with all his heart. Almost...
The Rebel laughed. They were going to die and he laughed. Trinity was turned away. Weak. Laugh... "Fools. We aren't going to kill you. Not here, anyway. No, you're coming with us. To Zion."
Aidenn shook his head, or tried to. He felt the knife rasp his perfect, white neck, saw through his Twin's eyes as a tiny, perfect bead of red appeared, somehow enhancing the beauty of the white... But he had to concentrate... Zion? That was impossible, wasn't it?
The Rebel pulled out what appeared to be three green spheres. They were glowing faintly, throbbing ever so gently. Aidenn had no idea what they were, and he also knew that he did not want to know, at any cost. He sensed that he would rather have his throat cut, here, in his home Matrix, than leave and enter the human's base... The Rebel threw the spheres, one at him... he couldn't move... one at his Twin... ADRIAN! And one at Antoine... He could see her screaming, his Twin screaming, himself screaming, the world shattered into meaningless pain. He had not felt such pain, not since... Since being linked with Adrian. But no, he was still there, still a part of him, still there, still there... It became a chant, to pass the pain-time. He, without realizing it, began to draw Antoine in, making her part of them, calling, singing. She answered, and their hidden voices mingled. Adrian's joined them, and they sang together until the pain stopped...
He was in a room. Adrian was there, they ran to each other before anything else, nothing else could separate them. But- *ding* 'Antoine isn't here.' 'No, she's not.' 'I can hear you! We - we can hear us?' They were all so startled, they nearly broke the connection, but Aidenn fought to keep it. 'Yes! We can all hear us! Antoine, where are we?' She knew, somehow, that they meant her. 'We-' This took some getting used to , no longer being a single entity. Oh, but it was beautiful. How could she have lived before this? It was so... cold. Alone. Never again... 'We're in a room, like ours. Stone. No way in, no way out... Nothing. Only a speaker...' 'Same with ours... The speaker could be a way out...' 'To where?' His Twin's rational voice broke through. Adrian. Adrian and Antoine.
Aidenn suddenly couldn't have cared where they were. He had both of them, all three parts of himself. He nearly fainted at the joy of it. Being Twinned, that was nothing. THIS was all, everything... He sensed his own new female side, cautiously. So beautiful...
Their connection smashed to the ground as the speakers in both rooms crackled to life. "Attention programs! Attention! You are here for deletion, as well as to test our new program re-location spheres. The, uh, female..." The voice hesitated. "Will be neutralized first, then deleted. However, we have no need to do that for the others." There was a pause. "However, we will allow you to live until we are done with the female." Sick laughter.
Adrian's grief was wiped out by Aidenn's mental cry of discovery and longing. All three of them were changing as a result of the link. The Twins were, down to their code, becoming golden, it mixed with their silver, from their hair to their boots. And Antoine... she was so beautiful, with the silver twining through her gold, she was perfect. Too perfect to die beneath the rubber-gloved hands of the human butchers. He allowed himself to fall to the floor of their cell, despairing. None of them should die. 'We'll bargain with them! We can offer them so much! They can't refuse!' His Twin pulled him up, Adrian blazing with strength. 'We'll get out of here. All of us. We have to...' He trailed off and examined the speaker. It was a simple enough matter to allow them to talk to their captors. "Please! Humans! We wish you no harm-"
"Like HELL you don't!" A furious human voice screamed.
'Oh shit,' thought Adrian, 'It's Niobe...'
"You've been trying to kill us all along, ever since we met you!" She sounded hysterical.
"We were acting on orders to preserve our lives. You must understand that? How many of our kind have you killed without giving it a thought? We are all, both of us, so caught up in fighting that we can't stand back and see the other as just another form of life..."
'Good, Adrian, good... Keep going. It's true, we know it is, tell them!' But all Antoine could think was 'Oh God Niobe what did they do to you? What happened to make you so unhappy, so ready to kill?'
"Bullshit! You're just trying to save your albino program asses! Turn this off-" The intercom died.
Antoine felt them enter her mind, with death, her death, as their only thought. She screamed, the mental screams bouncing inside her skull. Had the Twins heard them? She didn't know. She had no comfort of anything human, like shock or unconsciousness to save her. No, she was awake and sensing the whole time the technician, safe at his computer, just deleting another program, tore her apart piece by piece, line after line of code. She continued to scream long after her 'mouth' was gone, and the Twins heard and screamed with her, for they felt her pain. At last it was over, hours later.
The Twins lay, panting, on the floor of their cell, mourning. 'How could it have gone so wrong?' Adrian asked. 'She's gone. She's gone.' That was all his Twin could say. The humans all went to sleep, no guilt laying on their minds about the murder they had just committed. The Twins had no retreat. Aidenn, at one point, was muttering to himself. Adrian could have sworn that his Twin was saying a kind of prayer in the seldom used program language. He never, ever mentioned it. The night crawled forward.
Oh my God. This is so good. I can't believe I wrote this. Wow. I think I'm gonna cry. It's beautiful. I'm going to say that, because it's true, I'm not bragging. Or if I am, I have a right to. So Ha. Aw, poor readers...
Aidenn was afraid. He was doubly afraid, he could feel his Twin's fear alongside his, filling him, twined with his. He couldn't ghost... The Rebels were going to kill him, just because he was a program. Not even a part of the system. Oh Fuck, why? Why? That was all he could think as the Rebel grabbed his dreads, his precious, beautiful hair, grabbed and pulled. He could actually feel, really feel, not washed-out Matrix feeling, the cold, death cold of the knife at his throat, watched his Twin and Antoine suffer the same. 'The knife', his dead pseudo-brain thought, 'his smile... Like the knife. Antoine. Antoine. Antoine has our knives...' Someone screamed. Several someones... One was either him or his Twin, he no longer knew. The other might have been Antoine. It no longer mattered. They were going to die, really die.
*ding* One last thought... He felt the knife move... 'Aidenn... I-I'm so sorry.' Oh damn, fuck... He had said 'I'. He had given up... It was over. 'I'm sorry for everything...' Aidenn knew what he meant, of course. How could he not? 'Yeah, us too.' He would not, could not give up. Not ever. Not even when he felt his blood pour, so warm, so gentle, over his throat, down his jacket. As he fell, his blood staining the carpet, mingling with his other's. And- "ANTOINE!" He yelled, called with all his heart. Almost...
The Rebel laughed. They were going to die and he laughed. Trinity was turned away. Weak. Laugh... "Fools. We aren't going to kill you. Not here, anyway. No, you're coming with us. To Zion."
Aidenn shook his head, or tried to. He felt the knife rasp his perfect, white neck, saw through his Twin's eyes as a tiny, perfect bead of red appeared, somehow enhancing the beauty of the white... But he had to concentrate... Zion? That was impossible, wasn't it?
The Rebel pulled out what appeared to be three green spheres. They were glowing faintly, throbbing ever so gently. Aidenn had no idea what they were, and he also knew that he did not want to know, at any cost. He sensed that he would rather have his throat cut, here, in his home Matrix, than leave and enter the human's base... The Rebel threw the spheres, one at him... he couldn't move... one at his Twin... ADRIAN! And one at Antoine... He could see her screaming, his Twin screaming, himself screaming, the world shattered into meaningless pain. He had not felt such pain, not since... Since being linked with Adrian. But no, he was still there, still a part of him, still there, still there... It became a chant, to pass the pain-time. He, without realizing it, began to draw Antoine in, making her part of them, calling, singing. She answered, and their hidden voices mingled. Adrian's joined them, and they sang together until the pain stopped...
He was in a room. Adrian was there, they ran to each other before anything else, nothing else could separate them. But- *ding* 'Antoine isn't here.' 'No, she's not.' 'I can hear you! We - we can hear us?' They were all so startled, they nearly broke the connection, but Aidenn fought to keep it. 'Yes! We can all hear us! Antoine, where are we?' She knew, somehow, that they meant her. 'We-' This took some getting used to , no longer being a single entity. Oh, but it was beautiful. How could she have lived before this? It was so... cold. Alone. Never again... 'We're in a room, like ours. Stone. No way in, no way out... Nothing. Only a speaker...' 'Same with ours... The speaker could be a way out...' 'To where?' His Twin's rational voice broke through. Adrian. Adrian and Antoine.
Aidenn suddenly couldn't have cared where they were. He had both of them, all three parts of himself. He nearly fainted at the joy of it. Being Twinned, that was nothing. THIS was all, everything... He sensed his own new female side, cautiously. So beautiful...
Their connection smashed to the ground as the speakers in both rooms crackled to life. "Attention programs! Attention! You are here for deletion, as well as to test our new program re-location spheres. The, uh, female..." The voice hesitated. "Will be neutralized first, then deleted. However, we have no need to do that for the others." There was a pause. "However, we will allow you to live until we are done with the female." Sick laughter.
Adrian's grief was wiped out by Aidenn's mental cry of discovery and longing. All three of them were changing as a result of the link. The Twins were, down to their code, becoming golden, it mixed with their silver, from their hair to their boots. And Antoine... she was so beautiful, with the silver twining through her gold, she was perfect. Too perfect to die beneath the rubber-gloved hands of the human butchers. He allowed himself to fall to the floor of their cell, despairing. None of them should die. 'We'll bargain with them! We can offer them so much! They can't refuse!' His Twin pulled him up, Adrian blazing with strength. 'We'll get out of here. All of us. We have to...' He trailed off and examined the speaker. It was a simple enough matter to allow them to talk to their captors. "Please! Humans! We wish you no harm-"
"Like HELL you don't!" A furious human voice screamed.
'Oh shit,' thought Adrian, 'It's Niobe...'
"You've been trying to kill us all along, ever since we met you!" She sounded hysterical.
"We were acting on orders to preserve our lives. You must understand that? How many of our kind have you killed without giving it a thought? We are all, both of us, so caught up in fighting that we can't stand back and see the other as just another form of life..."
'Good, Adrian, good... Keep going. It's true, we know it is, tell them!' But all Antoine could think was 'Oh God Niobe what did they do to you? What happened to make you so unhappy, so ready to kill?'
"Bullshit! You're just trying to save your albino program asses! Turn this off-" The intercom died.
Antoine felt them enter her mind, with death, her death, as their only thought. She screamed, the mental screams bouncing inside her skull. Had the Twins heard them? She didn't know. She had no comfort of anything human, like shock or unconsciousness to save her. No, she was awake and sensing the whole time the technician, safe at his computer, just deleting another program, tore her apart piece by piece, line after line of code. She continued to scream long after her 'mouth' was gone, and the Twins heard and screamed with her, for they felt her pain. At last it was over, hours later.
The Twins lay, panting, on the floor of their cell, mourning. 'How could it have gone so wrong?' Adrian asked. 'She's gone. She's gone.' That was all his Twin could say. The humans all went to sleep, no guilt laying on their minds about the murder they had just committed. The Twins had no retreat. Aidenn, at one point, was muttering to himself. Adrian could have sworn that his Twin was saying a kind of prayer in the seldom used program language. He never, ever mentioned it. The night crawled forward.
Oh my God. This is so good. I can't believe I wrote this. Wow. I think I'm gonna cry. It's beautiful. I'm going to say that, because it's true, I'm not bragging. Or if I am, I have a right to. So Ha. Aw, poor readers...
